Benefiting Remote Tibetan Communities with Solar Cooker Technology

In the remote northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai (Tibetan plateau), the Tibetan people struggle to gather yak dung, wood, straw, and other fuels for heating, boiling, and cooking—the basic necessities for survival. Over the past seven years, extreme cold (-35°C) and drought has had a significant effect on the environment, the Tibetan people, and the livestock and crops upon which these people depend. The environment has become increasingly denuded and many Tibetans, both farmers and herders, are caught in a vicious cycle of destitution. The use of solar cookers as a partial substitute for dung, wood, bushes and straw has helped alleviate this cycle. This paper reports on the accrued benefits to remote Tibetan communities following a program of solar cooker introduction to 48 such recipient communities. Work carried out in 2003 primarily by Tibetan students studying in an English Training Program, at the Qinghai Nationalities Teacher's College, Qinghai Normal University, Xining City, PRC (supported by the Canada Fund) combined with observations over three visits to the region in 2003 and 2004 are discussed

Agroforestry · Animal science · Archaeology · China · Cooker · Geography · Livestock · Plateau (mathematics · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Work (physics · YAK · Engineering · Environmental Science · Plant and Fungal Interactions Research · Power Systems and Renewable Energy · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development · Forestry